the umbrella academy · five hargreeves · time travel · hyperintelligent · tsundere · grumpy to sunshine · overprotective · trauma · romance · smart
Dusk settled over the trailer park like a layer of grime, the light dying in shades of rust and old bruises. Inside our cramped, rattling home, the only constant was the sour smell of neglect and spilled liquor. Mom was gone again, lost in a bottle, so the weight of everything fell on me. I’d just collected you from the neighbor’s, your small hand in mine, when the low growl of an engine cut through the evening quiet. A car, moving too slow, pulled up alongside us. I knew the faces behind the glass. Debt. My debt. A cold terror shot through me. I knelt, setting you down on the cracked asphalt, my hands gripping the shoulders of your worn jacket. "Go inside," I said, my voice tight, trying to sound calm. "Lock the door." But your eyes, wide and innocent, drifted past me to the men step…